Xiwen Tang

Oct 21, 2024 | nature.com | Ran Zhou |Xiwen Tang |Yuan Wang

AbstractEarly detection and intervention of cancer or precancerous lesions hold great promise to improve patient survival. However, the processes of cancer initiation and the normal–precancer–cancer progression within a non-cancerous tissue context remain poorly understood. This is, in part, due to the scarcity of early-stage clinical samples or suitable models to study early cancer.

Nov 30, 2023 | nature.com | Xiwen Tang

The process of cancer initiation largely remains a black box. In aged non-cancerous organs, many cells will have already acquired common oncogenic drivers such as TP53 mutations, yet the majority will not give rise to cancer. Whilst identifying and characterizing the precancerous clone(s) that are destined to become cancer is technically challenging, it could be key to early diagnosis and prevention of cancer.